George Davie and the Edinburgh connection

By Iain MacDonald (Regina)

A few years back I was contacted by George Davie, who wanted to sell some bagpipes and piping equipment that he wasn’t going to use. He showed up days later with a pristine set of Tweedie bagpipes, a Tweedie goose, a J&R Glen practice chanter, plus a box of books, reeds and clippings from Edinburgh events in the 1970s.

It turns out that George Davie had a very special window into the Edinburgh piping world of the 1970s but has spent most of his adult life in Western Canada, working as a welder and machinist.

George was born in Edinburgh in 1938 and grew up there, attending school until age 14.

“I went to Royal High, Preparatory first which was Jocks Lodge, Piershill. Then the senior where they leaned heavily upon the classics – Latin and Greek – but I chose not to participate. Youthful ignorance, who knows? I just wanted out. Dropped out in common parlance. I quit at age 14.”

While George’s experience at school wasn’t what he needed, it was already clear that he had a special gift for the hands-on skills in life.

“When I was a kid, in Edinburgh, I figured out how to make a skeleton key to open all the cellar doors in our tenement building. Each house came with a free cellar. Each had a lock on the door, old type of lock, and a simple key got you entry. I stored my bike in ours, and it became a gang hut – a secret place to hang out with other kids. There was no light, so I made do with candles and later paraffin lamps, with a wick and a glass cover. Paraffin oil was like kerosene. I figured out my key might open other cellar doors, and I would try and file a key and remove the fancy scrolled shape and leave the outer edges which actually moved the bolt sideways. This was long before Yale type of lock which are everywhere today.

“There was a fine collection of forgotten stuff in these other cellars. One was a glass case with stuffed birds. Of course, I had to take these birds out and play with them. At the time I had no idea this could be hazardous. I learned decades later the bird feathers were dusted with preservatives like arsenic. Dumb kid. There were old photos of long-dead people, old furniture, worthless because the cellars were damp. But it was great fun for a curious boy in search of mischief.”

After leaving school, George got a job as a “panel beater” or auto body mechanic at a Jaguar and Daimler dealership, where he started to learn sheet metal and welding skills, eventually leading to night courses at W.H. Ramsay Technical Institute in Edinburgh. That building has its own interesting history, which you can read here.

George wasn’t there purely for the education, though. “I had another reason for going there for many hours. It was to qualify for a deferment from the draft, a two-year commitment into the army. If you didn’t attend to your deferment the army could grab you at age 17. Many young fellows never completed their apprenticeships and ended up with no trade papers and worked as labourers all their days. It was a big deal in the ’50s.”

As it turned out, George was not entirely successful, and he was called up to Glencorse Barracks outside Edinburgh on March 18, 1959.

George chuckled, “I rocketed up through the ranks when I was drafted into the Royal Scots, from recruit all the way up to private. After they let me go, I had recurring nightmares that I was still in the army and would sit bolt upright in my bed and turn the light on to see my working boots on the floor all scarred and mucky from welding sparks from my day job.”

Army life was hard for recruits. Early mornings, cold buildings and mostly cold water, but George was grateful for things he learned, such as driving. He was eventually offered a full-time job driving trucks for the Territorial Army near the end of his two years, but he decided the money was better outside. Still, there were complications.

“When the Libyan leader caused problems in the ’60s, I received a bundle of travel vouchers and orders to be ready to depart for Benghazi. I wrote to 40 shipping companies to apply for work as an engineer. I thought the Merchant Marine would be kinder than returning to the military and living the nightmare all over again. As soon as I got a Seaman’s Passbook and number, I returned the army’s bundle of forms with the information I was now a Merchant Seaman, 4th Engineer on the FT Everard tanker Austility. I served on that until the Libyan uprising fizzled out. I got to sail around the coast of Britain, Ireland and Europe delivering petrol. If I had not acted to get out of that, I would have been worried that two big military police could have come to my door and welcomed my presence for another session of marching up and down the square.”

George was determined to make a decent living and worked in various industrial settings where he learned new skills, such as gas and arc welding. He then returned to night school, where he earned his apprenticeship papers. While applying for jobs and working at various places in Edinburgh, George was told by a relative to set his sights on Canada, where there were plenty of good jobs. Like many of his generation, he took that chance and soon found himself in Edmonton, Alberta, and once again attended classes, but this time at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT).

George remembers, “I was back to night school again and the quality of training was far higher than the free training in Scotland, but now I had to pay up front for the courses I went to at NAIT in Edmonton. With those tickets I could graduate to a higher pay grade and was earning decent wages, yet I was homesick. I was missing my parents back home and made plans to quit and return to Edinburgh.”

George worked for a shop in Edmonton making pressure tanks. He liked that it was inside work, because he couldn’t imagine working outside in the winter. He became a member of the Boilermakers Union and before long he was in proper winter gear and working in the wilderness building natural gas plants. They lived in trailers and had professional chefs preparing their food. It was a long way from Edinburgh, and he would eventually feel the pull homeward.

“When I returned to Scotland, I wanted to check out Australia, and I went to Sydney for a year. By now only my Mum remained and it bothered me she was alone so after a year I went back to Edinburgh and with the earnings I had, I asked her if she wanted end her days in the city. And no, she wanted to die in her birth town of Cowdenbeath. I found a new house there and we moved in together. But she didn’t last much longer.”

While George had been in Alberta, he’d had many comments about his Scottish accent and co-workers asking if he played the bagpipes. That got him thinking about it, and he started investigating the Edinburgh piping scene when he got home, and ended up with a new practice chanter from J&R Glen and taking lessons from Pipe-Major George Stoddart, who was a legend in Edinburgh piping at the time, and a founder of the famous Eagle Pipers Society that continues today.

“P-M Stoddart dazzled me with speed of his fingers! He said if I would brush his fingers while he was playing, they would be deflected off the holes. He said there was not much pressure to hold them on. That surprised me because as a beginner I had a death grip with my fingers, and he was telling me that after many years they would soften. I used to buy bottles of Glenmorangie for P-M George. He loved that stuff.”

George’s natural interest in the mechanical world was now blended with his new love of piping, and he found himself spending a good deal of time at Jim Tweedie’s Inveran House bagpipe makers. One of the items that Tweedie wanted was a machine that would drill all the holes of a practice chanter at one time. The process they used was one hole at a time, which meant constantly resetting the drill bit and the chanter position for each hole.

“Jim would tell me of the multi-spindle drilling machines he had seen so I started to think I could build one, and after a bit of trial and error came up with the machine. These machines existed in Edinburgh, but the owners would not let you into their back shop where the secrets were hidden away. Mr Ross, the owner of Glen Bagpipes had one, but he kept the curious away. George Stoddart had seen it and did his best to describe how it worked and from that I figured out how to build it using Jim’s drill press, and some of his heavy machinery. This included a huge turret lathe as I recall. It was a wonder it didn’t collapse the floor of the shop in the old tenement building.”

George’s drilling machine was a success, and Tweedie was delighted. He produced practice chanters much faster and without constantly resetting the machine. While he was there, George Davie was also planning to build an air exhaust fan to eliminate the fumes from turning imitation ivory mounts. But it wasn’t all about the mechanical.

“I used to hang around the Tweedie shop when I lived in Edinburgh. I was hoping some sort of osmosis would enter my brain and fingers from the top players who would also enter that shop. I met George Lumsden there, a city policeman with the gentlest demeanour. He never got angry even when dealing with aggressive people. Always polite and kind, he was there to do the tuning of new chanters and would carve off the edges of the finger holes, a minute scrape here and there. He was a t talented player. Jim Tweedie was not a piper himself, which was unusual in the pipe making game. But he knew who to hire to help. I was there for something to distract my mind as my Mum had just died so I needed a diversion. And hanging out with good people helped a lot.”

When I first spoke to George Davie about his time in Edinburgh and his drilling machine, he wasn’t sure if it still existed. I knew Brian Donaldson had taken ownership of Inveran Bagpipe Makers and had relocated to the USA. I contacted Donaldson and was happy to learn that he remembered George well and still has his drill machine.

Brian Donaldson said, “Thank you for getting in touch and informing me about George. Yes, I stood many a time in the back shop of Inveran House workshop in Dean Street, Stockbridge, watching George create the magnificent practice chanter drill, which I still have. It’s a prize possession. The belts did perish when Craig Scott owned the business after Jimmy Tweedie retired, and on completion of my service with the Scots Guards I took over the business and promptly got the machine up and running again by using small vacuum cleaner belts. The drill machine still works to this day, but needs the belts replaced once again.”

Brian was able to direct us to a video of him demonstrating bagpipe making, including the use of George Davie’s drill machine. The machine is visible just after 5:25 in the video.

George was excited to see the video and learn that the machine was still used.

“I haven’t laid eyes on the green machine since 1970 something. It looks just as good as new. The boys looked after it nicely. It was a treat to see Brian turning, I could almost smell the chips coming up. Also pleased he is teaching this, a huge difference to the difficulties I faced when attempting to just look at the multi-spindle drill reputed to be in the back shop of J&R Glen. No way he was going to let anyone see his drill. So, times change, here is Brian casting aside all secrecy and revealing all. His video will survive him and future pipers.”

Following his time in Edinburgh, George Davie decided to return to Alberta, where he developed a robust career in the trades. After some years, he moved to Buena Vista in Saskatchewan, where piping was sidelined for a few years. He missed his piping connections and friends in Edinburgh, and they missed him, too.

“I was surprised at this because the tunes I knew are still in my head but no longer translate to decent fingering. Maybe a bit of advice to your students. Don’t ever quit practising, especially for even a few years.” – George Davie

“I was going along fine on the practice chanter for years until I stopped for 15 years to build my house. Upon starting up again found my fingers no longer land on the holes. I was surprised at this because the tunes I knew are still in my head but no longer translate to decent fingering. Maybe a bit of advice to your students. Don’t ever quit practising, especially for even a few years. For I was sure I could resume the practice chanter and take up where I left off. I was surprised to find both the fingers were off also the breath!”

Approaching his mid-eighties, George decided to part with his beloved Tweedie pipes. One of the unique features of the pipes was that he had stamped “Davie” into the cord guides with a tool from his father. His dad was a joiner and used to name-stamp the handles of his tools so they didn’t disappear on a job site. George’s pipes were in practically new condition, complete with chanter and a fibreglass case that George had made himself, using skills learned in the auto-repair trade.

George’s pipes went to an enthusiastic professional player, and his books were sold to local players eager for copies of the classic collections. What remains is his Tweedie goose, tied onto a hide bag, some paper memorabilia from his piping days in Edinburgh, and excellent memories of the many great people he met there, who not only fed his interest in piping and building, but also helped him through a rough patch in his life.

Brian Donaldson plans to keep the chanter drill working, ensuring George Davie’s brilliant machine will be turning out chanters long into the future.

Iain MacDonald of Regina, Saskatchewan, is a frequent and longtime contributor to pipes| and drums. This piece is from his Substack page, “Catchy Name Coming,” which we encourage readers to check out. Iain has kindly agreed to share more piping and drumming-related pieces with pipes|drums ongoing. He’s one of the world’s most significant contributors to piping and drumming, organizing schools and workshops; funding for teaching programs; leading Grade 2 City of Regina for several decades; publishing a music collection (“Along The Road”); authoring the historical novel, I Piped, that She Might Dance, about the great Angus MacKay; and operating Reelpipes.com for pipers and drummers.